Game apparatus



(No Model.)

S. W. CLARKE.

Patented Mar. 24, 1891.

15 PETERS c0, FNOTO-LITNKL, wasumavuu o c UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

SAMUEL \V. CLARKE, OF \VOODS l'lO'LL, MASSACHUSETTS.

GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,878, dated March .44, 1891.

Application filed December 4, 1890. Serial No. 373,539. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL W. CLARKE, a citizen of the United States, residing atlVoods Holl, in the county of Barnstable and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and novel Game and the Apparatus for Performing the Same, of whichthe followingis a specification.

The game is designed to be played on a level space, like a lawn or floor; and the apparatus consists in a feathered or winged elastic ball and abat or racket for driving the same having a tally-scale attached to the handle thereof.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the apparatus of the game and its construction, in Which Figure 1 represents a view in vertical section of the winged elastic ball, (or bird, as I call it.) Fig. 2 represents a View of the bat or racket having the tally-scale attached to it. Fig. 3 represents a side view of the tally-scale. Fig. 4 represents a view in cross-section of the Fig. 5 is a view of the wires which give spring to the wings of the bird. Fig. 6 represents a view in perspective of the wings of the bird, showing the manner in which they are held in an erect position by the springwires; and Fig. 7 represents a top view of the same.

Similarletters refer to similar parts th rou ghout the several views.

a represents a hollow elastic ball having an opening in one side, through which is inserted the flange of the wooden tube b.

(Z is a thimble of wood which fits on the outside of the tube 1).

c is a valve secured to the flange of the tube 1) and opening inward, and is preferably composed of paper or other analogous material which is light and springy, so as to allow the air in the ball to escape when the ball is compressed slowly, but to close the orifice when the ball meets with a sudden impact, such as the blow of a bat.

e represents the feathers or wings, which in the present instance are composed of cloth.

f represents loops of spring-wire, which pass over the wings at their intersection, as shown in Fig. 7 and have their ends twisted or soldered together at h. The elongations g of the wings are wrapped around'the wires and are then thrust into the thimble d, where they are secured bya little glue applied to the inside thereof.

The operation of putting the bird together v is as follows: The valve 0 is secured to the flange of the tube 1) by a little glue at one side of the opening and the flange is then inserted in the opening in the ball a. The ball is then collapsed against the flange and the thimblec l pressed down over the tube 1) until it presses firmly on the edges of the opening in the ball a, where it is secured by glue which has been applied to the outside of the tube 1). The wings 6, having the wires f looped over them, are then secured in the thimble d, as above described. The elongations of the wings do not so completely fill the opening in the thiinble (Z that air cannot pass freely through it.

t' represents a bat or racket composed of any suitable material, having the tally-scale 7; secured thereto. an oblong piece of metal adapted to be secured by its ends to the bat, having a scale marked on its surface and provided with the sliding pointer l, the construction of which is fully shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4.

The game, as played with the above-described apparatus, is played on a surface, as before stated, on which two parallel lines are marked from six to ten feet long and from fifteen to thirty feet apart. The players take their positions behind the lines with bat and bird in hand. The pointer on the tally-scale is set to indicate the number 5 to allow for losses. One of the players throws the bird for the other to return with the bat. If the bird falls short of the line or goes more than four bats lengths beyond it, no miss is scored, and the bird is returned by hand to the opposite player. If the bird is sent within the given bounds by hand or bat and the player fails to return it with the bat, one point is lost. Three hits in succession count one, five hits count two, seven hits count three, and ten hits count five. When the middle of the scale, or ten points, is reached, set the pointer back to 5 and then go forward to the end of the scale, the first one to reach it being the winner of the game. A wait may be called when the bird is in the air without loss of The tally-scale consists ofpoints on either side, the bird being" returned by hand as at the first and then the count going on as though no pause had been made.

The scale having two pointers, both sides of the game may be kept by each of the players, if he wishes.

I elain1- 1. A game apparatus consisting of an elastic ball having the hollow stem 05 secured to it and having the wings e secured in said stem and supported by the spring-xvi-resf, and a bat or racket for driving said Winged ball.

2. A game apparatus consistingof a hollow elastic ball having an opening in one side, the edge of said opening secured between the flange of the tube Z) and the thiinble d, an inwardly-opening valve secured to the flange of the tube b, wings 6, supported by spring- Wiresf, projecting from said thirnble d, and a hat or racket for driving said Winged ball, having a tally-scale 70, provided with pointer I, attached to it, as shown and described.

SAMUEL W. CLARKE. Witnesses:

BRANNAN G. NORTON, HARRY NIOKERSON. 

